Preview Solothurn Film Days – The Film Days focus on films from the world – culture

The forthcoming Solothurn Film Festival will offer 217 films from around the world – and bring the female filmmakers closer to the audience again.

It was already clear at the end of the 57th edition in January of this year: the Solothurn Film Festival is a public festival, a local event. Even though other film festivals have discovered the travel-free online expansion and the potential long-distance audience during the pandemic, what counts in Solothurn is the encounter.

Closer to the audience

Niccolò Castelli knows this from his own experience. The Ticino filmmaker directs the festival together with Monica Rosenberger. He got to know Swiss film in Solothurn, he says. The reactions of a live audience are sometimes decisive.

In 2010, for example, at the Solothurn premiere of “Sinestesia” by Ticino’s Erik Bernasconi, he was amazed to find that the German-speaking Swiss laughed in different places than the Ticino.

This is one of the reasons why Castelli has planned a new form of encounter for the upcoming 58th edition of the Filmtage. Where the filmmakers’ ideological and political exchanges took place in the legendary early days, in the Kreuz cooperative restaurant in Solothurn, there is now the “Fare Cinema” event every morning – making films.

The filmmakers of the day and the audience should be able to discuss practical aspects of filmmaking for 90 minutes, moderated by Castelli. If you want, you can stay at the Kreuz for lunch afterwards.

Cinema of War and Crises

That could work. Because confrontation is also popular in the film program. Among the 217 films that the selection committee chose from the 642 submitted, there are a surprising number that deal with the world in a very topical way.

War, diaspora, environmental destruction and current social friction are not only approached differently by the young female filmmakers in terms of content, but often also in terms of form, explains Castelli. This also has to do with the fact that “Swiss films” have long since known no borders. It is noticeable that many of the current filmmakers are not only rooted in Switzerland but also elsewhere.

Legend:

Stories about strong female figures and the question of generations are strongly represented. For example, the Swiss-Egyptian co-production “Big Little Women” by Nadia Fares.

Luna Films

In the 1970s, the predominantly male Swiss filmmakers set out into the world, explains Castelli. Today’s 30-year-olds, on the other hand, already have the world inside them. They are looking for their identity between Switzerland and the other corners of family origin.

Festival is looking for spectators

In 2020 – before the pandemic – the Solothurn Film Festival achieved a record 66,322 admissions. In 2021, a purely online edition took place and in January of this year, after the abrupt dismissal of the artistic direction and under pandemic conditions, only 28,942 entries were counted.

Monica Rosenberg, the new administrative head, cautiously expects two-thirds of the pre-pandemic numbers for the coming edition. After all, Solothurn’s hotels are already quite well booked, she says. And the experiences of the other festivals allow some optimism.